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All 27.0 - House-Sitting
As the four walked away from Magdha’s condo, Clover received a Sending from Xander, informing her that, if they would like him to leave and pick up the ritual, they would have to come keep an eye on Duvallon. He was running a military campaign, after all, and couldn’t abandon the front unless someone was going to mind it for him. After finding Ryuji and Cohen, who was still wearing the collar, Clover explained the new developments and handed over Ryuji's recovered things. They agreed to the plan, although Ryuji was loathe to go anywhere near the necromancer. With that, they discussed their plan, as owing to Duvallon’s distance, it would take a few days to get the whole team there with Pierce teleporting them. Cohen, Lucca and Clover agreed to be the first group. Pierce would take them the next day, when his spells had recharged, and would return to get the others the day after. Before leaving, Pierce summoned Julia in the middle of the street at Ryuji's behest, much to the astonishment of passerby. Lucca and Victor walked a short distance away as this occurred, not wanting to offend the narrow-minded angel's sensibilities again. Ryuji explained to her that they needed a moon pearl, or rather, just a piece of the crystal they were made from. Julia agreed that it was a just cause, and though moon pearls were highly protected by Pandemonium, she may be able to secure for them the raw material. If they could summon her again near a planar disturbance, she should be able to bring one. The group agreed to call her again from Duvallon. Before she left, Ryuji asked her if there was anyone else who might be able to cast that ritual, so that they wouldn’t have to work with Xander, and if there was any way Heaven could help him cease being undead. She said she had no idea personally, but would ask around. With that, she was unsummoned. They returned to Duvallon as planned. Xander greeted them as friends, because at this point they had proven that they weren’t going to kill each other and were using each other for favours: friendship as far as he defined it. He said he’d be gone about a week, since it would take a while to get back to his stronghold in the Underdark. They were to ensure that the city didn’t fall in the meantime. Once he had left, the four remaining discussed what they were going to do. They didn’t want to actively fight for Xander, since they were obscenely powerful and could probably lay waste to much of the forces beyond the city’s wall, but none of them supported Xander’s ideal. However, neither could they let the city fall: Xander surely wouldn’t help them if they turned ‘traitor’ and lost his war for him. Eventually, they settled on a negotiation attempt, and with Pierce’s honeyed words, convinced the Tinoco army to hold position for a week, until Xander returned. Seeing as how Xander’s undead forces were more concerned with fortification than offense to begin with, they had no issue with the cease fire and took the opportunity to entrench further. With that settled, the less morally-concerned members of the party decided to go looting in the sections of town that hadn’t been sorted by Xander’s puppets. Clover joined them to ensure that they at least conducted themselves in a respectful manner. They spent the night in the lordly manor. Pierce left the next afternoon to return to Engiadina. The others occupied themselves throughout the day. Lucca felt something watching him in the evening. He looked around until he found a singular Share staring at him from a corner. He dispatched it, and told the others. As they discussed its meaning, they felt a strange sensation. Three Shares appeared in the room, watching them and speaking, saying nothing more than “We see. All see. All see you.” They destroyed the Shares, but they were rapidly replaced with even more. Eventually, they began to appear not as singular creatures, but melded masses: a mess of orange slitted eyes peering out of a black, shapeless mass punctuated by orange spikes. The three people abandoned the room. Harlequin was summoned and went in to investigate further. The Shares informed him to not side with the opposers, or he would be destroyed as well. He responded by shattered a Share with his rapier, which was rapidly replaced with several more. He returned to the others without any particular ideas. The group decided to try and destroy them all at once. Lucca unleashed a powerful fire spell that destroyed the Shares, along with a good portion of the room. Nothing remained but a large pile of empty husks, which Cohen collected and dumped outside of town using Clover's broom. Not believing that this was the end of it, they all retreated to another room to guard themselves. Lucca scouted furtively around the building, finding more and more Shares scattered about, watching and whispering at him. The three weathered the night away in a small room on their guards, knowing that they were being watched. By the next morning, they needed to escape. They flew out a window, to find that nearly the entire exterior of the house was coated in the black eyeball creatures that watched them. As they made to escape, wondering about what could be done about the All, the Shares began to move. They formed into a single, huge creature: a giant singular eye formed from amorphous black solid, with eye-riddled tendrils stretching out from its mass. The Conglomerate began its attack. The creature shot spells at them of varied strength and effect. Clover’s blade bit deeply into its back, piercing its hollow shell. Though the creature appeared empty, it began to shed black viscous liquid from its eye, the amount increasing with the damage it sustained. One of the All's spells hit Clover, sending her into a state of terrified panic. She grabbed at Cohen, trying to force him to flee with her. Eventually he shook her off and returned to help Lucca, who was able to shake off most of the mind-control effects of the Conglomerate’s spells, but had found his shift dispelled twice in a magic-suppression field and took the brunt of a damaging spell, these events unnerving him to the point of a near-catatonic state. Cohen was hit with a Disintegrate spell, hurting him seriously. Despite this, he managed to finish off the Conglomerate. The creature split back into a pile of dead Shares. However, there were still thousands of the eyes in and around the house. Cohen managed to snap Lucca out of his reverie, earning a slap for his efforts. Carrying Lucca on the flying broom and leading the terrified Clover, Cohen took them away from the manor. They took refuge in a hotel, away from the All. Pierce later arrived with Victor, Cress and Ryuji; Virgil stayed with Cheko, Caitlyn and Shintaro.Category:Advent of the All